Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson has yet to face Peyton Manning in a regular-season game, but he’s studied the five-time MVP enough to know that Sunday is “going to be something special.

“It’s very difficult to scheme against him because he’s been in the game now for what, 16-plus years,” Peterson said. ” You want to make sure everything looks the same so he can’t get a bead on you, so he can’t know what you’re doing at any given moment of the game.”

In his 48 career NFL games, Peterson typically has had the task of covering an opponent’s top receiver, and will do so again Sunday against Demaryius Thomas.

“As a defense, we want to make sure we stay up in the receivers’ faces and make it difficult for Peyton, and try to throw off the timing as much as we can because that offense is predicated around timing,” Peterson said. “We have to make sure that we’re ready to go.”

Big O wants better O-Line. Orlando Franklin said the Broncos’ line has talked about what it needs to improve heading into Week 5, and it didn’t keep the list short. “Every person on that offensive line, we need to get better in all aspects,” he said on 104.3 the Fan on Monday. “We need to be able to protect the passer, protect Peyton better, and we need to be able to run the ball better.”

Fox checked in on Allen. Broncos coach John Fox said he talked to Dennis Allen on Monday after he was fired as coach of the Raiders. Allen was Fox’s defensive coordinator in 2011 in Denver before being hired by Oakland in 2012. “He’s a heck of a football coach,” Fox said. “I know that because I worked with him. It’s unfortunate. … He’ll get a job soon and I’m sure he’ll have great success.”

Nicki Jhabvala is the lead Broncos and NFL beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving at The Post in 2014, she spent nearly two years as a senior staff editor at The New York Times and five years at Sports Illustrated.

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